I have no doubts that he will be remembered as the all time best tennis player for a very very long time purely bcoz of his tennis and also bcoz of his dominance in the last 4 years.
for eg : Sampras took 13 years to win 14 slams, federer has already won 12 in just 5 years.
he has been the longest as world No1 for a record 4 years which shows his dominance.
He has won 5 consecutive wimbledon and 4 consecutive US opens, shows his consistency.
he has reached the semifinals for the last 16-18 slams which is again a feat unmatchable yet.
Yes, he is not upto his best but remember by normal standards he actually did well coz he was in the aus open semis and reached the finals in the other 2, thats a great feat but by federer standards it wasnt.
He lost in the semis in the aus open coz of his illness, he had mononucleosis which hampered his performance, he became physically weak, many still feel he hasnt recovered yet.
Co ing to Nadal, he is undoubtedly the best player this year but for him to become the all time best, the yardstick to measure against would be federer, if he can achieve what federer did after becoming world no 1, yes I would say he is the best player of all time, till then federer is the all time best.
just a small point, yes nadal played outstandingly in wimbledon but they forget that this year wimbledon courts were slower , the balls heavy and the grass had been cut a lot . we all know slow courts suit Nadal more.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by jitendra thakur on Sep 02, 2008 08:27 PM
my dear you are right to some extent but remember not de-regard other greats like samprass, beacuse you must remember that samprass had more fierce competition then fedrer, aggasi, jim courier, ivansevich, rafter, and others, and so it was togher for him to win every grand slam and also to be no. 1. for fedrer just last 2 yrs nadal has come into good competition, otherwise no player left for giving comptition to federer. and remember just fw months back in a 3 match series samprass defeated federor in one match even in this age and being out of compitition for yrs and federer in its peak. i agree that sampras was not great in clay. but still i dont think its fair to call him all time great.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by vidhya h on Sep 02, 2008 10:45 PM
its not his fault that none of his colleagues or competitors couldnt match his game, remember he too started off losing to hewitt, and many others in 2003, he improved and remained consistent. As mcnroe rightly said, now he has shown he is human. Sampras was great no doubt but again his domaninace wasnt that much as there were others who won in between.
Also abt his illness, many people who suffer from glandular fever tell that it takes 6-7 months to recover fully.
Re: Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by vijay on Sep 03, 2008 02:12 AM
Glandular fever.. mononucleosis.. yeah.. Hewitt too had lot of injuries.. personal problems.. n Marat Safin had enough problems.. n still has so many injuries.. n has a volatile temperament.. David Nalbandian had a major accident n got himself injured (remember he was the one who consistently defeated Federer before he got injured n was leading the head to head against Federer). There is nothing gracious than accpeting defeat. It seems it is not possible for Federer n his fans to accept the facts / reality. I have never seen Nadal giving excuses for his defeats.. which I believe is the main reason why many likes him n also he is not a person who likes to boast about himself.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by vidhya h on Sep 03, 2008 03:35 AM
No one is taking anything away from Nadal, I already admitted that Nadal is the best this year but for him to join the ranks of federer, sampras and other greats, he needs to prove himself more than this year and remain consistent. He has won 2 out of 3 so far and may win more but for him to reach federer, he has to prove himself to be better than federer and that we can only see in the next 2-3 years. I mentioned federer's illness coz he was initially diagnosed as food poison which was wrong and only later on after his defeat, was it known that he had galnsular fever. Many players withdraw before the tournament if they have an injury,one cannot compare federer with other players coz the others didnt show the dominance or the consistency or the fitness that he showed all these years and yes his performance was definitely hampered by the illness.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by Varun ccs on Sep 03, 2008 01:41 PM
Quite true Mr Vijay. For most ppl here, they want to see Federer win under all circumstances. Coz when Nadal wins, there is nobody around in this discussion board to write comments. Does Nadal play so badly to defeat Federer on Grass ??? I fail to understand. I enjoy tennis though whether it is Nadal or Federer or Sampras or Agassi. One thing I noticed was that, noone is invincible and Nadal would agree more to this, even after defeating Federer, than Federer himself even after loosing to Nadal.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by vijay on Sep 03, 2008 02:06 AM
Similarly it is not Nadal's fault that the wimbledon courts being slower. Federer was close to winning.. n if he had done people would have kept talking about his record n not bother about the court. For the sake of arguement you should not tell.. n take the sheen of Nadal's win. But then.. is it not Tennis which is played on slower courts..? It requires more skill n stamina. Just think if most of the tournaments are played in slower couts..!? Definitely Federer is an all time great.. you have illustrated that with all those records. But he is definitely next best to Nadal n we have the head to head record between these two which Nadal leads handsomely.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by Shiva on Sep 03, 2008 03:40 AM
Nadal is the best player on clay (slow) and Federar is the best player on grass (fast), period.
Given this data and their past 5 year record in both tournaments, it is worth noticing the fact that the wimbledon courts are made slower this year.
Re: Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by vidhya h on Sep 02, 2008 10:48 PM
Just wanted to add, many of his peers , including rod laver have admitted that he is the best player mainly coz he is a complete player, there are no shots that he cant play and he has invented so many shots. Also its great for tennis coz his competitors like nadal,djokovich and the rest were forced to raise their game and improve to match his standards and overall it was great for tennis.
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by jeetu on Sep 02, 2008 09:35 PM
its nothin to do with competitors.. mind it mr thakur.. federer's game is class thats why his competitors like lubicic, safin, hewitt, moya, nalbandian, djokovic and many more were no way nearer, otherwise these are not bad names.. all of these are fierce competitors. sampras was gr8 but had to struggle to come over his competitors.. but federrer is class...
Re: federer is the all time best......tennis player.
by Anirudh Gupta on Sep 02, 2008 08:44 PM
Good Analysis. Informative. Didn't know about Federer's illness.
It's first time in last 4 years when Federer is not number 1 in ranking. But don't reach any conclusion. It's too early(Only based on this year performance). I give you some example. One time A.Aggasi had reached out of 100 in ranking. But he came back strongly after his two bad years in career. Same thing happened to V.Williams. Thats why I am so confident Federer will come back. Give him some more time to regain his confidence back. This is all about confidence. When he will win any major tournament again, he will gain prove that he is still the best in the world.
Re: For Nadal fans and Federer bashers..........
by Anurag Rathore on Sep 02, 2008 03:28 PM
Federer is still best. Despite of worst phase of his career he reached in Semifinal of Australia open and Final of Wimbledon and French Open. I am 100 percent sure he will come back with a bang.
It was just a lack of focus that cost him second set & almost the match if Nadal had successfully served out then Nadal would hav won in straight sets like 2,4 & 4. & I belive after winning42 of last 43 matches he derves a lapse like this. Glad that it didn't come at later stages of the tourney.
It will be really a tough game for Nadal against Fish. Infact, he might even lose this match. Fish is really playing well and his approach near Net and his volleys is really excellent.
Re: Nadal is struggling......
by Anurag Rathore on Sep 02, 2008 11:44 AM
Nadal leads on which surface? Go and check, They have met more than 10 times on Clay court and Federer has stopped his continuos 86 victories in a row on Clay court last year.
Re: Nadal is struggling......
by virendra sangshetty on Sep 02, 2008 01:49 PM
To Anurag
Nadal leads on which surface? -Nadal is 2-3 on hard but he ended Federe's 56 match win streak on Hard in Dubai'06 final -Nadal is 1-2 on grass but he ended Federe's 65 match winning streak this year at Wimbledon. Both are the Open Era records on the respective surfaces
& by the way Nadal's win streak on clay was 81 matches & not 86 as u said
Re: Re: Nadal is struggling......
by Anurag Rathore on Sep 02, 2008 11:44 AM
The reason for Nadal victory in Wimbledon final was "There were so much pressure on the Federer to win that match, expectation was so high from Federer. Media created so much pressure on Federer like he is not number 1, his era is end now etc.". But now the situation is different. Nadal is no.1 now and Federer is pressure free now. Lets wait to end of U S Open. You will know why Federer is all time best.
Re: Nadal is struggling......
by breddy on Sep 02, 2008 02:52 PM
Mr Anurag, If that's the case, He doesn't deserve to be no.1. After playing at the top all these year, he should know difference between hype and reality. I feel ur comment lacking a bit of logical touch. This is not the only match he lost right. Many after that as well to low ranked players.
Re: Nadal is struggling......
by Aryan on Sep 02, 2008 11:54 AM
Every reader has his own views and opinions, just like you have your own. There is no need to be abusive to ppl whose opinions differ from yours.
Perhaps you should first take some classes in etiquette.
Re: nadal
by Jigmey Lama on Sep 02, 2008 11:14 AM
If he could do it on the unpredictable lawns of wimbledon, i don't see why he can't do it in the Flushing Meadows (US Open).
Re: nadal
by Anurag Rathore on Sep 02, 2008 11:20 AM
The reason for Nadal victory in Wimbledon final was "There were so much pressure on the Federer to win that match, expectation was so high from Federer. Media created so much pressure on Federer like he is not number 1, his era is end now etc.". But now the situation is different. Nadal is no.1 now and Federer is pressure free now. Lets wait to end of U S Open. You will know why Federer is all time best.
Re: nadal
by hrudeep p janardhanan on Sep 02, 2008 02:29 PM
man..its hard to remain on top than to reach top..all these years when federer was on top others were slowly catching him up.now there are many players who can fight face to face with him.this is good for overall tennis. and for me right now the best player in the world is Nadal.
Re: nadal
by vijay on Sep 03, 2008 02:22 AM
Hi Anurag.. have you done your homework..? Then only you should go n play.. which class are you studying.. 1st or 2nd..? Enjoyed your kid like arguement..! I do not understand why people do not appreciate the efforts of Nadal in dislodging Federer from No 1. Federer is definitely an all time great. More than reaching the top.. staying there is difficult.. Nadal also stayed there at the top number 2 for a long time. He was not able to become No 1 'cos he had someone extra ordinary sitting on top n there was no support from anyother players.. who tried defeating Federer. He had to do almost all by himself. But after Nadal showed better results against Federer consistently.. many started believing that it is possible. Its great to have Federer Vs Nadal. But it does'nt look fair to give lame excuses for one's defeat n not being appreciative of the other one's victory..!!!
